Psalms 44
1 For the leader. Of the Korahites. A maskil. O God, we have heard with our ears, all our ancestors have told us of the work that you wrought in their day, your wonders in days of old,
God, we ourselves have heard what our parents and grandparents told us. They told us about the miracles that you performed long ago.
2 uprooting and crushing the nations, then planting and settling them. For it wasn’t their own sword that won them the land,
[They told us] how you expelled the ungodly people and enabled us to live in their land. [They told us] that you punished those ungodly people and enabled your own people to prosper [IDM].
3 it was not their own arm that brought them the victory. Yours was the hand and the arm, yours was the face that shone on them with favor.
It was not by using their own swords that they conquered the people that lived in that land, and it was not by their own power that they were victorious; it was only by your power [MTY, DOU] [that they did those things]; and they were sure that you were with them, and that showed that you were pleased with them.
4 It was you, my king and my God, that ordained the victories of Jacob.
You are my King and my God; it is you who enable us, your people [MTY], to defeat our enemies.
5 Through you we can thrust back our foes, and by your name tread down our assailants:
It is by your power that we knock our enemies down and tramp on them.
6 for not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword win me the victory.
I do not trust that I will be saved by using my bow [and arrows] and my sword.
7 Our victory comes from you, and confusion to those who hate us.
No, it is you who have rescued us from our enemies, it is you who have caused those who hate us to become ashamed [because they were defeated].
8 In God we boast all the day long, and your name will we praise forever. (Selah)
We have continually boasted about what God [has done for us], and we will thank him [MTY] forever.
9 Yet you have spurned and disgraced us, in not going forth with our armies,
But [now] you have rejected us and caused us to be disgraced; when our armies march out [to fight a battle], you no [longer] go with them.
10 and in making us flee from the foe, so that those who hated us plundered us.
You have caused us to run away from our enemies, with the result that they captured the things that belonged to us.
11 You have let us be eaten like sheep, you have scattered us over the world,
You have allowed us to become like [MET] sheep that were ready to be slaughtered; you scattered us [far away] among [other].
12 sold your people for a pittance, and getting no gain from their price.
[It is as though] [MET] you sold us, your people, [to our enemies] for a very small price, and you did not gain much profit from selling us!
13 You have made us the butt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of all round us.
People who live in nations near us make fun of us; they laugh at us and deride/belittle us.
14 O’er the world you have made us a byword, the nations at us shake their heads.
They make jokes using the name of [our country], they shake their heads [to indicate that they despise us].
15 My disgrace is forever before me, my face is covered with shame,
All day I feel disgraced; from seeing my face, people know that I am ashamed.
16 at the words of blasphemer and scoffer, at the sight of the foe and the vengeful.
I hear what those who sneer at me and revile me say; I am ashamed in front of my enemies and those who want to harm me.
17 All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you nor falsely dealt with your covenant.
All these things have happened to us [even] though we have not forgotten you, and we are not the ones who disobeyed the agreement you made with [our ancestors].
18 Our heart has not turned back, nor our steps declined from your way,
We have not stopped being loyal to you, and we have not stopped doing what you want us to do [IDM].
19 that you thus should have crushed us down, and covered us over with gloom, in the place where the jackals roam.
But [it is as though] you have allowed us to be helpless among wild animals, and abandoned us in a deep dark [ravine].
20 Had we forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a god that was strange,
If we had forgotten to worship [MTY] our God, or if we had spread out our hands to [worship] a foreign god,
21 would God not have searched this out? For he knows the heart and its secrets.
you certainly would have known that, because you know [even] what we secretly think.
22 But in your cause it is we are killed all the day, and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
But it is because we belong to you, [that our enemies] are constantly killing us. They act toward us as though we were only sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Rouse yourself, why do you sleep Lord? Awake, cast us not off forever.
[So], Yahweh, arise! Why are you asleep [RHQ]? Get up! Do not reject us forever!
24 Why do you hide your face, forgetting our stress and our misery?
Why are you not looking at us? Why are you forgetting that we are suffering and being oppressed [by our enemies]?
25 For we have sunk down to the dust, our bodies cling to the ground.
We are pushed down to the ground and we cannot get up.
26 Arise, come to our help: for your love’s sake, ransom us.
Arise, and come and help us! Rescue us because you faithfully love us!
